1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to structures and methods for fabricating perpendicular write heads. More specifically, the invention relates to structures and methods for reducing corrosion of trailing shield and wrap around shield (auxiliary pole) structures during the fabrication of perpendicular write heads.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the manufacture of perpendicular write head structures, particularly those that contain trailing shields (also known as auxiliary poles), it has been observed that corrosion of the trailing shields may occur subsequent to the deposition of these structures by electroplating. This corrosion can occur very quickly, before protective encapsulation can be applied. Due to the small dimensions of the trailing shields, any pitting or corrosion can significantly impact proper operation. For example, the specified throat height (the thickness of the shield at the ABS) of a trailing shield near the write pole is typically 50 nm or 500 angstroms. Even microscopic amounts of corrosion of the iron containing alloys comprising the trailing shield can make obtaining the design target throat height difficult to achieve when forming the air bearing surface. What is needed is a structure and method to prevent corrosion of auxiliary poles during the fabrication of perpendicular write heads.
FIGS. 1-4 (Prior Art) are exemplary of the prior art disclosed in United States Patent Application Publications 2005/0068673 and 2005/0068665.
United States Patent Application Publication 2005/0068673 discloses a head structure having a write head portion for writing data to magnetic media. The write head portion includes a first pole piece with a first pole tip, a probe pole piece having a probe pole tip for emitting magnetic flux from an ABS end thereof, an insulation stack positioned between the pole pieces, at least one write coil embedded in the insulation stack, a shaping layer positioned between the probe pole piece and the insulation stack for focusing flux to the probe pole tip, a trailing shield spaced apart from the pole, the trailing shield causing the magnetic flux to enter the media at an angle from a plane perpendicular to a surface of the media facing the pole, and a return pole piece.
United States Patent Application Publication 2005/0068665 discloses a method and materials to fabricate a trailing shield write pole that resolve the problems of controlling the write gap and preventing damages to the write gap or pole during fabrication of the subsequent structure. This process also introduces a CMP assisted lift-off process to remove re-deposition and fencing (increase yields) and a method to create dishing in the top of the write pole. Moreover, also included in this disclosure are suitable materials that can function as an ion mill transfer layer, CMP layer, and RIEable layer.
FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is partial cross sectional view 100 of a perpendicular write pole prior to deposition of the trailing shield structure. Non-magnetic gap layer 102 is situated above pole tip 106 and shaping layer 108. Gap materials may be alumina, Rh or Ru. Mask layer 104 is deposited prior to the trailing shield (FIG. 2), covering gap 102. FIG. 2 (Prior Art) is partial cross sectional view 200 of a perpendicular write pole subsequent to deposition of trailing shield structure 202. Note that gap layer 102 is completely covered by mask layer 104, which remains within the head structure after subsequent deposition of the trailing shield. FIG. 3 (Prior Art) is a partial cross sectional view 300 of a perpendicular write pole subsequent to deposition of a return layer 302, which is deposited over mask 104. FIG. 4 (Prior Art) is a cross sectional view 400 of a read/write head structure employing a trailing shield 202. The read head comprises first shield later 410, read sensor 408, and second shield layer 406. The write head comprises coils 404, backgap 402, gap 102, mask 104, trailing shield 202, and return layer 302. This structure has been found to sensitive to corrosion of the trailing shield, particularly due to the extension of gap 102 layer all the way to the backgap area, particularly for gap materials of Rh and Ru. This is due to an electrochemical corrosion couple that can corrode the trailing shield 202 quickly after plating.
United States Patent Application Publication 20050105212 discloses a magnetic head including a plurality of coil elements disposed in a space defined by a lower core layer, a pole layer, and a back gap layer. A coil insulator fills the space so as to cover the coil elements. The top face of the pole layer, the top face of the coil insulator, the top faces of the coil elements, and the top face of the back gap layer form a planarized plane. The coil elements are disposed on a recess formed on the lower core layer. The bottom faces of the coil elements are disposed at substantially the same height as the top face of the lower core layer. The top faces of the coil elements lie in the planarized plane.
United States Patent Application Publication 2005/0185340 discloses a first magnetic layer formed on a first magnetic layer formation surface, and then a first material layer-forming layer is deposited on the first magnetic layer formation surface and on the sides and the top of the first magnetic layer and is etched to form first material layers so that the width dimension of each first material layer in the track width direction gradually decreases in the upward direction. Then, a second material layer is formed over the first material layer formation surface, the first material layers, and the first magnetic layer. Then, the first material layers, the second material layer, and the first magnetic layer are polished to expose the upper surface of the first magnetic layer and form the upper surfaces of the second material layer and the first magnetic layer as the same planarized surface.
United States Patent Application Publication 2005/0083607 discloses an improvement of a write element of a thin film magnetic head. The first pole portion projects from a flat surface of a first yoke portion at a medium-facing surface side and having a reduced width at its upper end. The second pole portion faces the upper end of the first pole portion, having the same width as the upper end of the first pole portion, with the gap film interposed between the second pole portion and the upper end of the first pole portion. The first pole portion includes a magnetic film adjacent to the gap film, the magnetic film etched at both sides in width direction to have a narrowed portion having substantially the same width as the second pole portion, and a base portion connected to the narrowed portion, increasing in thickness toward the narrowed portion.
United States Patent Application Publication 2005/0047015 discloses a thin film magnetic head capable of reducing the amount of protrusion of a write shield layer, thereby preventing a collision with a recording medium, and thereby ensuring a recording operation with stability. A heat sink layer is disposed on the leading side of a thin film coil in order to dissipate heat produced by the thin film coil. When the thin film coil produces heat during the recording of information, priority is given to the guidance of the heat to the leading side of the thin film coil, namely, the side opposite to the position of the write shield layer, rather than the guidance of the heat to the trailing side of the thin film coil, namely, the position of the write shield layer, so as to dissipate the heat. Thus, the thin film magnetic head reduces the likelihood of the heat accumulating in the write shield layer, thus reduces the likelihood of the write shield layer expanding thermally, and thus reduces the amount of protrusion of the write shield layer.
United States Patent Application Publication 2004/0240110 discloses a thin film magnetic head achieving improved recording performance by sharpening recording magnetic field gradient as much as possible. The thin film magnetic head has a return yoke layer disposed on a trailing side of a magnetic pole layer, and width W3 of an exposed surface of a lower TH specifying part in a TH specifying portion in the return yoke layer is equal to or larger than width W1 of an exposed surface of the magnetic pole layer (W3W1), and is less than width W4 of an exposed surface of an upper TH specifying part (W3<W4). Since a part (magnetic flux) of a magnetic flux emitted from the exposed surface to the outside flows in the exposed surface while being spread a little in the width direction, spread of the magnetic flux is suppressed at the time of recording. Therefore, the recording magnetic field gradient near an air bearing surface is sharpened and recording performance is improved.
United States Patent Application Publication 2004/0257702 discloses a thin-film magnetic recording head suitable for high density recording and its fabrication method elaborated to avoid corrosion of the main pole section of the head. A non-magnetic metal layer is formed on the top of the main pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,178 discloses that one of the major requirements for higher frequency extendability is to reduce yoke length and inductance in order to have fast saturation. This has been accomplished by using a design that provides a cavity in the lower pole piece inside which is located at least two coils, one on top of the other. A process for manufacturing the device is also described.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,027 discloses a perpendicular write head including a main pole, a return pole, and conductive coils. The main pole includes a seedlayer and a magnetic layer that is plated upon the seedlayer. The seedlayer is nonmagnetic, electrically conductive, and corrosion-resistant. The return pole is separated from the main pole by a gap at an air bearing surface of the write head and is coupled to the main pole opposite the air bearing surface. The conductive coils are positioned at least in part between the main pole and the return pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,515,825 discloses a thin film magnetic head in which a first coil layer is formed at the back of a track width control portion. The first coil layer being located nearer a bottom core layer than the junction surface of a track width control portion and an upper core layer. With a two-layer structure, the width of the coil layer can be decreased. The height from the top of the bottom core layer to the top of an insulating layer can be decreased. The insulating layer covering a second coil layer can be decreased, thereby shortening the magnetic path and decreasing inductance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,461 discloses a thin-film magnetic head including an upper core layer and a lower core layer, extending from a back region to a magnetic pole region, and ends thereof being disposed at a medium-opposing face; a gap layer disposed in the magnetic pole region between the upper core layer and the lower core layer; a groove formed in an insulating layer formed on the lower core layer, the groove extending from the medium-opposing face in the magnetic pole region to the back region; and a lower magnetic pole layer, the gap layer, and an upper magnetic pole layer in the groove. In the thin-film magnetic head, the lower magnetic pole layer and the lower core layer are connected to each other, the upper magnetic pole layer and the upper core layer are connected to each other, and the groove comprises a groove body portion which has a cross-sectional size approximately equivalent to that of an opening of the groove at the medium-opposing face and extends in the magnetic pole region, and a groove-continuing portion which continues from the groove body portion and extends in the back region.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,248 discloses a thin-film magnetic head which has a structure wherein a spiral conductor coil having a plurality of turns is disposed between first and second magnetic layers being substantially in parallel with each other, through upper and lower inorganic insulator layers, and in which a part of the outermost turn of the conductor coil is exposed on a face opposite a magnetic recording medium along with the upper and lower inorganic insulator layers, to form a magnetic gap. This head can be readily manufactured by a manufacturing method including the step of forming the outermost turn of the conductor coil on the side of the face opposite the magnetic recording medium so as to be wider than any other part of the conductor coil, and the step of thereafter machining the face opposite the magnetic recording medium so as to expose the outermost turn of the conductor coil on the face opposite the magnetic recording medium. The magnetic head of the present invention is suited to high-density recording, and is high in recording and reproducing efficiencies and also in reliability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,113 discloses a head including a read pole disposed between a pair of write poles spaced apart to form a gap there between. The read pole conducts flux to a flux sensor that is located away from the gap. The head can be utilized for both longitudinal and perpendicular recording and the readback function can be carried out by an inductive coil or flux sensing devices such as a Hall sensor or an MR sensor. The recording head achieves high readback resolution, high write field gradients, and the capability for write wide-read narrow. The read pole and write poles are laminated structures.